I am stoked to report how quickly LUCID Books is moving with the publication of Confessions. The release date has been moved up to late November with pre-sales set to begin in mid-October. The work is presently in the lay-out phase after having completed the editing and proof-reading. As the process continues, we are looking at publicity and marketing over the next two months. Yes, I am thrilled as I honestly believe this project will be a huge encouragement to many people.

One exciting piece from the past two weeks was to receive the Forward that I had asked Jim Tune write for the book. If you don’t know Jim, he is a fun Canadian minister, church planter, and visionary who is always advancing the ball down the field. Debi and I seriously considered working with Jim and his wife, Claudia, back in 2004 before moving to Northern California. But we’ve kept in touch over the years and I greatly respect Jim and his work. (more…)

I’ve never really been a fan of religious verbiage. I especially hate it when people call me Pastor Steve. God doesn’t call me that. But the problem with the word pastor, in the English language, is that it means just about everything. Thus it sometimes doesn’t really mean anything. Anything specific that is. The problem with me is that I tried to do and to be everything associated with the word and it just about killed me. But maybe, in truth, the real problem belongs to all of us who call on the name of Christ. (more…)

This past summer I was talking with one of my older friends from my hometown. In our conversation I discovered that she knew my 9th grade English teacher, Dan Johnson. My friend, Emadene, had taught school with Mr. Johnson’s wife and had nothing but good to say about the man. Likewise, when I think back to the year that I was in his class I have plenty of encouraging memories of my teacher. That year was truly an illustration of God moving in ways we don’t understand? Mr. Johnson was indeed a providential piece of the total equation for the man I am today. (more…)

We’re just a few days away from Superbowl XLVII and I’ll probably watch the match even though neither my favorite team nor quarter back is in the game. If nothing else, I’m sure there’ll be at least one good million dollar commercial in the mix. But in thinking about these and other great teams, I’m reminded of another great leadership pointer we can learn from this spectacular sport. The lesson being that it’s really not all about the quarterback. Both Flacco and Kaepernick are great players, but the thing about them and other leaders on the gridiron is that the QB rarely makes the touchdown. Rather, they hand off or pass the ball to someone else. It’s that person who takes the ball across the line and puts the points up on the board. The truth about authentic Christianity and the true CHURCH is that we are all involved in a team effort. In the CHURCH, leaders are not to “do the work of ministry” but to equip the Saints for “doing the work of ministry.” The immediate context of Ephesians 4 refers to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, but the principal is the same in every leadership situation. So whatever your leadership responsibility is, make sure your hand offs and passes are right. Get the ball into the hands of others so that the team can advance the ball. Let them carry the ball across the line and put the points up. Let them celebrate the victories and simply be excited that they and the team won the day.

So, who are you pulling for in this game? More importantly, who are you equipping in your life to carry the ball across the line?

It’s been fun to watch the evolution of Kingdomology. This pilgrimage also includes the recent partnership with the ministry of Healthy Pastors. Having a call on my life for full-time Christian service, I understand the joys and challenges of such work. I believe in this ministry cause. But in order to narrow the audience of both sites for better service, I’ve created a new blog just for Healthy Pastors. So if you are in some form of Christian service, then check out the new site as it unfolds. Feel free to dive into Healthy Pastors anytime you want to encourage others or be encouraged yourself. Kingdomology will of course still be here. In fact, I’m hoping to make the site even better. We’ll continue to explore what it means to live out the Kingdom of God in the here and now while spreading the love of Christ as far and wide as we can. Feel free to send me any questions or suggestions as I continue to make this site better and expand the ministry. I’d love to hear from you on other issues you believe could be discussed here. Your thoughts and ideas are an encouragement to me and everyone else in the Kingdomology family. The weekend is coming. So make sure to dive into a worship service and pray for the preachers.